Breaking Ball?

G

Gendry

New member
Hi everyone! I'm new to the site, and I've enjoyed reading a bunch of posts already. I'm doing some research into something and can't find any info, so I figured I would ask here.

Has anyone ever heard of a breaking ball? It's a ball my family has used for years to break with, mainly so we don't warp the cue ball. There's nothing fancy about it, besides the dark brown color, and one small black triangle, but that's it. It's the same size as the cue ball, and after the break, we would just replace it with the cue ball and play normally.

I've asked a number of players young and old, and no one has ever heard of it. I'm beginning to wonder if it's something my grandfather thought of and just passed it down?

Thanks for your help!

Mark
 
Never heard of it.

You wont warp the cueball by breaking.

The balls can change size a little after years of play from the friction between them.

Welcome to the forum.

Woody
 
I believe break-balls were used years ago when they had ivory QB's. Johnnyt
 
I've seen something like that on eBay, but I hadn't heard of it before then. I don't think you can warp an ivory ball either.
 
Johnny T is correct the break ball was common in days gone by. It was used to break a rack so you wouldn't chance chipping your ivory cue ball. Break balls had different marks on them,some were triangles some diamonds and I have seen square ones also. The symbols were to tell either the weight or the hardness of the ball. In this picture on the 3rd row down you can see 2 of them they are the 2nd and 3rd balls from the left.
 

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TX Poolnut said:
I've seen something like that on eBay, but I hadn't heard of it before then. I don't think you can warp an ivory ball either.
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I've heard a lot of people talk about their ivory ferrules cracking, so I've always had the impression that ivory is fairly brittle...

It seems (to me) like an ivory ball would break before it warped....

I have heard of Larry Nevel and Charlie Bryant breaking the 1 ball with their thunderous breaks...and those plastic balls have got to be a lot tougher than ivory or clay.

Maybe a "break ball" was necessary to play 9 ball years ago. I've never heard of such a concept, though.
 
It may have been originally used because of the ivory CB. But on my home table I have always used a breaking ball. It started back when my dad bought a used table in 1964, a very old Brunswick, Collendar, Balke. It came with a breaking ball and I continued the practice on my table.

It saves the regular ball from all the hard scuff marks that comes from the chalk and break cue tips. I wipe it off and will polish out any marks after each break. It still gets a lot of battle scars. My playing CB will still get scuff marks but not as bad.
 
Cuebuddy said:
Johnny T is correct the break ball was common in days gone by. It was used to break a rack so you wouldn't chance chipping your ivory cue ball. Break balls had different marks on them,some were triangles some diamonds and I have seen square ones also. The symbols were to tell either the weight or the hardness of the ball. In this picture on the 3rd row down you can see 2 of them they are the 2nd and 3rd balls from the left.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pics, there are several balls there I've never seen before. (There are a couple of unique 12 balls.)

The balls on the 4th row confused me for a second, then I realized they must be snooker balls. Why is the 6 ball orange instead of pink?

Anyway, I bet I know which of those balls get the most use...those Aramiths on the bottom 2 rows are the best balls ever, imo.
 
Gendry said:
Hi everyone! I'm new to the site, and I've enjoyed reading a bunch of posts already. I'm doing some research into something and can't find any info, so I figured I would ask here.

Has anyone ever heard of a breaking ball? It's a ball my family has used for years to break with, mainly so we don't warp the cue ball. There's nothing fancy about it, besides the dark brown color, and one small black triangle, but that's it. It's the same size as the cue ball, and after the break, we would just replace it with the cue ball and play normally.

I've asked a number of players young and old, and no one has ever heard of it. I'm beginning to wonder if it's something my grandfather thought of and just passed it down?

Thanks for your help!

Mark
Click to expand...

How much do you want for it?
 
the420trooper said:
Thanks for the pics, there are several balls there I've never seen before. (There are a couple of unique 12 balls.)

The balls on the 4th row confused me for a second, then I realized they must be snooker balls. Why is the 6 ball orange instead of pink?

Anyway, I bet I know which of those balls get the most use...those Aramiths on the bottom 2 rows are the best balls ever, imo.
Click to expand...

Check out the 12 ball up close http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=137018 it really is cool,wish I had the whole set.Yes they are snooker balls I like to play but no body has even heard of the game where I live:(. The 6 is only orange in that picture I never noticed the color before you mentioned it.
 
Not only a breaking ball but a shooting ball as well. These two "cue balls' came with an old snooker ball set I bought years ago. I didn't know why there were 2 of them much less why they were different sizes. I was told one was for breaking and one for shooting. I just assumed it was a snooker thing.
 

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softshot said:
How much do you want for it?
Click to expand...

Heheheh......not for sale.....


Thank you very much for all the info. It's something we've always used and never found anyone else who knew anything about it. My wife has had fun asking different "experts" about it, and leaves them terribly confused. My breaking balls look very similar to the ones in the wall rack that someone posted.

The table I have has been in our family since around 1935, a Brunswick Madison with four square legs-I'm the fourth generation to own it, and my 3 yr old daughter loves to play on it already!

The breaking ball will continue to be used as long as I'm around!

Thanks for the help!

Mark
 
the420trooper said:
Thanks for the pics, there are several balls there I've never seen before. (There are a couple of unique 12 balls.)

The balls on the 4th row confused me for a second, then I realized they must be snooker balls. Why is the 6 ball orange instead of pink?

Anyway, I bet I know which of those balls get the most use...those Aramiths on the bottom 2 rows are the best balls ever, imo.
Click to expand...

The cue ball on the fourth row at the far left looks like the dreaded mud ball. Worst cue ball ever made.
 
dabarbr said:
The cue ball on the fourth row at the far left looks like the dreaded mud ball. Worst cue ball ever made.
Click to expand...

You have a good eye. That ball is the most out of round ball I have ever seen. It is one of my favorites to look at but I sure would have hated to play with that one. I found that in a antique store in southern Maine, it looked as if a hillbilly hand rolled it(sorry if there are any hillbilly's reading this):rolleyes:
 
dabarbr said:
The cue ball on the fourth row at the far left looks like the dreaded mud ball. Worst cue ball ever made.
Click to expand...

I used to play on some Valleys that had mudballs, many people look at me funny if I ask them if they ever played with a mudball, seems that a lot of people don't remember it.
 
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